


Particle Wave

by Qem



Category: Hikaru no Go
Genre: Ambition, Background Hikaru & Akira, Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-03
Updated: 2014-07-03
Packaged: 2018-02-07 07:14:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1889796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qem/pseuds/Qem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It seems as though we must use sometimes the one theory and sometimes the other, while at times we may use either. We are faced with a new kind of difficulty. We have two contradictory pictures of reality; separately neither of them fully explains the phenomena of light, but together they do." - Albert Einstein</p>
            </blockquote>





	Particle Wave

**Author's Note:**

  * For [karanguni](https://archiveofourown.org/users/karanguni/gifts).



> Notes: Ogata’s age has been a contentious issue, in different parts of Hikaru fandom, especially since he looks younger later in the series due to differences in art design compared to when he’s first introduced. I decided to work with the assumption that in 1998 – Ogata is 27.
> 
> I also had the fortune to read an article about yakuza being outsiders in Japan, while writing this story, and Ogata's always struck me as being exceedingly centric in the Tokyo Go World we see (he helps organise so many events, and multiple titles) but also an outsider - not quite the old guard, but not part of Hikaru's generation either.

Ogata has always maintained that the game is always a minimum of decades off from dying – regardless of what any old coots may think.

1990  
Ogata’s a little concerned about how this “being a professional go player” is going to work out. It’s not like he’s a bad player, in fact technically despite his lack of exam status he’s been a professional go player for a few years now, with tutoring matches and somewhat illicit betting being involved. But his (former) boss has been killed and the police have arrested a lot of people already, for being involved one way or another in the affair.

With stricter organized crime countermeasures laws coming down the track, (those persistent murmurings aren’t going to go away) Ogata needs to get out while he can, or he’ll face consequences a lot worse than being asked to consider throwing a match or having oneself thrown in a river. (It was a honest loss in any case he can feel confident in that. He’s not certain of how many honest wins he was able to claim.)

In any case, coming back to the present rather than focusing the past or potential future. He’s just been asked if he wants to play a game of golf with Kuwabara. Every single finely honed instinct he has is telling him that, that’s a dangerous invitation to accept. But on the other hand, networking is a pretty important skill to have. Go players might not be willing to recognise it, claiming that it’s just about how you play, but anyone involved in the real world knows that just not true. And while that might control whether you win a match, it doesn’t control who you get introduced to, or what study sessions you're able to attend, or the opportunity to meet new and innovative people in the game. Despite what others might claim, you need to be able to network if you want to be able to get ahead in this incestuous industry, at least until you can win all the titles.

Ogata wants more than just attempt to qualify for title matches. He wants to change things to make it easier for new people to learn how to play – have better international opportunities, China and Korea are doing very exciting things right now and Japan’s just going to get left behind unless they step up – he doesn’t know why others, supposedly wise and learned, can’t see this.

After the golf game, Ogata knows which method he prefers. He’s also very determined to one day crush Kuwabara into dust. Those two things may or may not be related.

1994  
Ogata’s always been relatively good at playing with people’s perceptions, he thinks, although only within a certain range. It’s a skill he learned as a teen, after his mother moved to Tokyo for good. Not wanting to seem like a country bumpkin, he found himself focusing on the most impractical and beautiful thing he could – Go.

Then once he found himself entering in that world, he found himself focusing on making himself appear older on being the more suave, more confident, more respected version of himself.  
He’s not sure if it’s a success story or a compliment when people sometimes mistake him for being in his early forties, while he’s only in his mid-twenties.

At least he gets some respect these days, being a formidable player.

1995  
“You can’t make a wave with just one person”, is a point that Ogata feels strongly about. It’s not that one person can’t change things – that’s certainly something that he likes to think that’s something he’s achieved… It’s just. One person is shouting into a void, it takes many people to actually make a movement.

Those stupid geezers, who are always whining about how the game is dying, are just creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Ogata’s relatively young and talented – and while he game to a late start in the game, he’s already proving to be better and more ambitious than people the same age. There’s still boundless potential both behind him and going forward into the future.

It’s just. With so many busy things happening, it’s hard to find the time to settle with an old fashioned game of Go. People don’t want to dwell on tactics and discussions of people who died what feels like millennia ago – they want to have nice houses and fast cars. With the economy being shaky and years off from recovery – people Ogata’s age are usually looking for stability and don’t have the time throw away on a frivolous game. Go can’t just go on as it is right now. It needs to reach out to the younger generation so they already know what to expect and have already started making their journey to stability by the time they graduate from compulsory schooling - thus be eligible for jobs such as tutoring. Not be forced to earn a living in a different industry before they find themselves needing to take time off work. (Or making the choice to not take time away - giving up Go instead.)

Ogata’s already made his decision. He’s going to change the Go world and bring Go into the modern era. Tradition is all well and good, but what’s the point if there’s no one new to play. Ogata’s confident that his Go will be able to back him up – so those old goats who whine about change and the younger generation had better get out of his way.

2002  
He's jealous of Akira and Hikaru - he identified a little with Hikaru and coming to the game late, and with Akira about not being able to find a rival on a similar level as himself. But now it looks like he's starting to become the crest to be overcome.

He’s not that old yet! He needs to rip the honinbo title from Kuwabara first, before he’s willing to be seen as part of the older generation.

But Go more and more seems to be a young man’s game. (He’s still not that old.)

2002  
Money was supposed to make things better. Ogata thought. And it did. Make things better as life is much more fun with beautiful fish, fast cars and never having to worry about a bill again.

It's just he thought, that when he made it - with winning a major title like meijin, had the money to signify the status that he's earned, he'd be. More suave, more confident, more respected. There are times where he feels like he's close to that goal, but then that old goat Kuwabara laughs and he's reduced to being a kid that can't tell the difference between top shelf and rotgut. (The answer he has learned is in many cases the difference is with the price tag and the fancy brand on the label.)

It's not just Kuwabara though - it's many other things as well. He's wealthier than he ever thought he could be, and still feels like he's looking for something more. Like he might be lagging behind, lacking in something that is needed. That’s not an alien thought to himself. He’s used to being the outsider, the incoming change that is needed, but now he’s the one people go to when they want things done.

It's why he chased after Sai, a player capable of a game filled with mysterious maturity but alsolayers of fun both overt and waiting to be revealed.

Ogata wants to play like that, magnificently yet remembering that it's a privilege to play like that. That this is what he's dreamed of. The kind of opportunity he couldn't have hoped for long ago. Like when his parents lost their farm and any chance of a traditional Japanese life disappeared. People don't get to take that away from him.

2004  
Sometimes Ogata wonders what it would have been like if he was able to have someone his own age to bounce off of, instead of the old yakuza who taught him how to play go while his mother played trophy wife.

He’s a little envious of Hikaru and Akira, who together drive each other to fierce heights and force. Whenever he watches Hikaru and Akira bicker, perfectly matched and yet so different - Ogata wonders what it might have been, if he had someone like that when he was introduced to Tokyo Go - his own age and brilliant but different. He's never had someone the same age and level as himself really, when learning how to play. He’s always been more concerned with looking ahead (learning from his seniors, networking with people) or helping to build a following for the wave to come.

Then he looks at the people close to his age, and winces, when he realises the closest match to a rival his own age is Kurata.

2005  
Then he looks at the people close to his age, and winces, when he realises the closest match to a rival his own age is Kurata.

2006  
Then he looks at the people close to his age, and winces, when he realises the closest match to a rival his own age is Kurata.

2010  
People’s expectations are a rather funny thing, Ogata muses. Take Shindou-kun for example. At first glance he’s loud and brash, a high school dropout, frequently late, and unmindful of personal presentation except for concepts such as “coolness”. Shindou would seem like the sort of person you’d find working in construction until they retire due to a bad back. With his trendy cloths and bleached hair, he’s someone outside the normal social strata.

In reality… well he is outside of normal social strata, having never quite assimilated despite Waya-kun’s earnest attempts, but behind his flippant expressions lies a brilliant tactician. One who is able to turn mistakes (his own, someone else’s) to his advantage. Full of surprises and a deep appreciation of the most traditional parts of Japanese culture. Despite the fact that he doesn’t seem to apply any of it to his own life. It’s the kind of thing that certain people like to prod Ogata about the similarities to a certain someone.

He’s never quite sure why they would think that.

Then you have Akira – brought up in a good family, with good grades. The kind of person who was born an adult, they just needed a little time to grown into their body. It’s easy to predict his deep curiosity, but his burning drive to win is often a surprise to many. Not nearly as big a surprise, though, as the way that Shindou is always able to force him into (does it count as reverting if he was never really a child to begin with?) childlike tantrums.

They both bring out the best and worst in each other and the closest Ogata’s had to that is… well someone more than twice his own age when they first met. (He can't help but wonder if Sai could have been it, if they had they ever met.)

* * *

Unknown Year  
"Hey Ogata...-sensei", Hikaru trails off as he enters the room, to see Ogata surrounded by professionals.

Ogata doesn't think much of it, at the time, since Hikaru's dragged off by one of his year mates, distracted by the discussions of the upcoming title match - he really wants to win this game. He hears the vague whispers "you should use his title", "which one he has so many!" but puts it aside.

Titles never meant that much to him after all, it was more what they actually represented, the fact that he had won, and the respect that was awarded accordingly. How that respect was manifested he didn't particularly care.

It's only now, a few weeks later, after one of the greatest nights in his career, that he thinks back and realises what it means - when Hikaru eyes off the current holder of the Gosei title, Waya-kun, and then asks in a very polite and exceedingly unnatural tone "Ogata-Honinbo, would you be kind enough to share your opinion on some kifu with me? I believe that they would be of interest to you."

**Author's Note:**

> This is a little more extreme than my actual head canon, but when you were asking for thoughts on Ogata - I couldn't help but be "oh where do I start!" as I think he's a fascinating character.


End file.
